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“I see, and what about you?” I questioned.
“What about me what?”
“Have you moved on?” I held my breath and waited patiently for her answer. Her eyes met mine, and she nodded. Relief washed over me. “I’m glad. It would be awkward with Jim sitting here.”
Bailey looked over at me and began laughing. “You think.”
“I don’t need to think. I know.”
As our eyes met, the silence between us grew until finally Bailey cleared her throat. “Can I tell you something?”
“Please.”
“When Cara begged me to come back, I really didn’t have a reason to say no, except for you.” She hung her head and clasped her hands together.
“Me?”
“Part of me was afraid of what I would find.”
“How so?”
“Deep down, I was afraid I would come back and find you had gotten married, and that you’d have a family. I don’t know, it’s stupid.”
“I see. Well, if you want to know what it is I’ve been up to, all you have to do is ask,” I said, reaching over and brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes.
“I already know, so spare me the details,” she whispered, raising her eyes to meet mine.
“What do you know?”
“Everything. Cara told me you’ve been doing the entire town. I don’t need to hear it again, it’s okay. It doesn’t matter. It’s not like we were together, but Zoe? Really?”
I didn’t know how to respond to what Cara had told her. It wasn’t like I was hiding anything, but to tell her all of that made me sound like a horrible person.
“Bailey, she makes me sound like a monster.”
“No, she doesn’t.”
“She does. It wasn’t what I was going to say at all.”
“What were you going to say?”
I cleared my throat, praying that what I would have said didn’t come off sounding like a line. “Well, I’d planned to tell you I’d spent the last five years waiting for you. That I’m happy to have you back in my arms.” I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “As for Zoe, she was nothing but a moment of weakness and terrible judgment.”
“It doesn’t matter, Jackson. If you like Zoe, it’s okay because we aren’t together?” Her eyes met mine, and even though her comment stung, I held her gaze. “I don’t know what this is going on between us, but it’s definitely not us getting back together.”
“Bailey, you may be upset that I slept with ‘the entire town’ as Cara put it, but it’s different now. Just so you know, I ended things with Zoe a while ago. Besides, it’s different with you and always has been.”
I kept my eyes locked with hers. I wanted to lean in and kiss her, take her down to the bedroom and show her, just like I did last night, how different everything was with her for me. Yet I didn’t dare make a move, not yet. I could already see the hurt, the tears forming in her eyes.
“I’m not upset, Jackson. You were a free man to do whatever it was you wanted,” she mumbled as she looked down at her watch. “I should get going.”
“Why?” I questioned.
“Because it’s late, and I think, I just, I need to be alone. Besides, Mom has been alone for a couple of days, and I go back to work tomorrow through the rest of the weekend. It will be busy, I’m sure.”
“So you’ll be working this weekend?” I hadn’t wanted to bring it up, but this coming up December weekend was the weekend Connor had died. Neither of us had mentioned anything about him since we’d been together, yet we both knew the subject hung in the air between us.
She turned her eyes away from me and nodded. She was quiet as she stared off into the corner of the room. I was sure I caught a glimmer of a tear in the corner of her eye. I was about to lean forward and ask if she was going to be okay? If she wanted me there but she put her hand on mine.
